Victor Ochen

Victor Ochen, the United Nations Global Goals Ambassador for Peace and Justice, is a 34 year-old peace activist from Uganda. His organization, the African Youth Initiative Network, helps thousands of victims of the Ugandan civil war to obtain treatment and overcome the traumas of the war. The organization also organizes many youth programs with the goal of making wars less common in Africa.

In 2015, Ochen was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and endorsed for the prize by Mahatma Gandhi’s family. He is the youngest African and first Ugandan to receive the peace prize nomination. Despite spending most of his life surrounded by war, crimes against humanity, and often surviving on one meal per day, Victor maintained a deep love for peace and powerfully activated his community.

Ochen was born and raised in Lira district in northern Uganda. His experience growing up in a camp for internally displaced persons shaped his desire to be part of the peace building and community development process.

In 2005, he founded the African Youth Initiative Network with a desire to mobilize youth and communities to contribute to peace and justice in northern Uganda.